Harry Potter and The Children of Death
by slyfoxcub
Summary: Dumbledore receives a letter from Japan, asking his permission to enrol some...very unusual children into Hogwarts. The Espada have faced down the Captains of Soul Society, but how will they handle a British school for Magic? Will they ever return to normal? Are dementors nutritious? Are werewolves technically Vizards? Or will this all end badly?
1. Chapter 1

Hermione looked around at Harry. "Won't it be nice to get out of school for a bit and explore Hogsmeade?"

"'Spect it will," Harry said heavily. "You'll have to tell me when you've found out."

"What d'you mean?" Said Ron.

"I can't go. The Dursleys didn't sign my permission form, and Fudge wouldn't, either." Ron looked horrified.

 _"You're not allowed to come?_ But-no way- McGonagall or someone will give you permission-"

Harry gave a hollow laugh. Professor McGonagall, Head of Gryffindor house, was very strict.

"-or we can ask Fred and George, they know every secret passage out of the castle-"

"Ron!" Said Hermione sharply. "I don't think Harry would be sneaking out of school with Black on the loose-"

"Yeah, I expect that's what McGonagall will say when I ask for permission," said Harry bitterly.

"But if _we're_ with him," said Ron spiritedly to Hermione, "Black wouldn't dare-"

"Oh, Ron, don't talk rubbish," snapped Hermione. "Black's already murdered a whole bunch of people in the middle of a crowded street, do you really think he's going to worry about attacking Harry just because _we're_ there?' She was fumbling with the straps of Crookshank's basket as she spoke.

"Don't let that thing out!" Ron said, but too late; Crookshanks leapt lightly from the basket, stretched, yawned, and sprang onto Ron's knees; the lump in Ron's pocket trembled and he shoved Crookshanks angrily away.

"Get out of it!"

"Ron, don't!" Said Hermione angrily.

Ron was about to answer back when Professor Lupin stirred. The watched him apprehensively, but he simply turned his head the other way, mouth slightly open, and slept on.

######################################################

The three sat in relative silence after the outburst, the only sounds being the Professor's sleepy breathing, the purring of Crookshanks and the chugging rattle of the train. Then the peace was broken by the sound of bickering from the carriage next door. It sounded like three girls were really going at it, however the Trio couldn't really tell what was being said, as they weren't speaking English. It seemed to be a mix of Spanish and something else, as Harry caught the word 'estúpido' a few times.

Then another girl joined the fray, shouting the others down without any trouble at all. There was what was probably mumbled apologies and peace was restored.

"Blimey," said Ron, mouth agape. Hermione, however, was frowning; "I didn't know we had any bilingual students at Hogwarts."

"They're probably in Ravenclaw," Harry said. "They're the only ones who would bother to learn another language."

"No, I don't think so," Hermione mused. "The Ravenclaw car is right down the other end of the train. Besides, if they were Ravenclaws they wouldn't have had a shouting match."

"Yeah," Ron said, interest piqued. "Ravenclaws would have probably had a massive insult game with really long words in." He was cut off by a gasp from Hermione.

"Do you think, maybe, that they're transfer students?"

She was cut off abruptly by a crash, a pained yell and a girl yelling 'Catch her, quick!'

The Golden Trio slid open the door and peered out into the corridor. Their mouths gaped.

Two girls were in the corridor, flailing their arms about as they tried to catch the _something_ flying about above their heads and out of arms reach. The three couldn't see exactly what the _something_ was, but it was the girls themselves that really caught their attention.

One girl was skinny, with short straight brown hair. She was the shorter of the two, but from the way she was snarling in frustration, definitely the fiercer. The other girl was brown-skinned, and _very_ curvy. Hermione was slightly gratified to see that, for once, somebody else's hair was bushier than hers.

Deciding to help them out, Hermione drew her wand and yelled "Immobulus!" The spell hit the whatever-it-was and it froze in midair.

"Accio," said another, quieter and more refined voice. The _something,_ which looked vaguely fish-like, flew towards another girl who had chosen that exact moment to step out from the carriage doorway. Her frame was petite and willowy, even underneath the voluminous black school robes and her long, pin-straight hair was black with a suspiciously greenish tint.

"Thank you," she said; cupping the fish-thing in her hand as she inclined her head towards Hermione. "I hope we did not disturb-"

She was cut off by the other two girl's angry yells.

"Dammit, Sun-Sung! We had it under control!"

"Yeah, we didn't need your help!"

The girl's, Sun-Sung's, eyes glinted as she brought up her other hand so that the sleeve covered her mouth. "Oh, of course, so that's why you failed to catch Lady Harribel's familiar. You could have just used a spell instead of flailing about in such an undignified manner. Or are you just incompetent at mastering your wands?"

The other two girls were practically frothing at the mouth at her last statement.

"Sh-shut up!"

"We're competent enough to kick your prissy little ass here and now you b-"

 _"Enough."_

The new voice was mellow, but it's tone suggested that the owner wouldn't just not suffer fools gladly; but not suffer any fools at all. The three girls stopped dead in their tracks as the owner of the aforementioned voice stepped through the doorway. And what an owner!

Her skin was an unblemished mocha, her hair a messy golden blond, with long thick strands that were tied loosely back and fell over her shoulders. Her eyes, rimmed with lashes of the same gold blond, were a blazing aquamarine. She also possessed a _very mature_ figure that could make a Veela weep with jealousy.

The three girls flinched and stood straighter as she swept her gaze over them.

"I have told you three time and again that nothing is accomplished by your constant arguing. That time you argued in battle nearly cost you your lives!

Sun-Sung, your constant sniping does not help matters in any way, no matter how amusing it might be. I assumed that you would know that; I am disappointed."

Sun-Sung winced, raising her sleeve to cover her face even further.

"Mila-Rose, Apacci. Sun-Sung is correct that you do need to practice your magic. You could have saved yourself a lot of grief."

The skinny, brown-haired girl spoke out. "Lady Harribel, I...'"

Harribel turned to her, teal eyes boring into mismatched brown and blue ones. "No, Apacci! You need to keep your temper in check when the situation calls for it. Your tendency to fly off the handle at the slightest provocation is your greatest weakness. Keep your foul mouth in line as well."

Hermione squeaked as the girl known only as Harribel turned her gaze on her. "You. Girl."

"Y-yes?"

"Thank you for your assistance. I apologise for the lack of manners shown to you. When will your spell wear off?"

Initial shock over, the glint in Hermione's eye had returned. "It should begin to go in a few minutes. But, er, if you don't mind me asking, what sort of creature is it exactly?"

Harribel sighed. "I think we had best continue this conversation in my compartment. It will be easier to explain there, and this corridor's getting a bit crowded."

Ron grabbed Hermione's sleeve as she stepped forward. "Wait, Hermione! You're just going to waltz into somebody else's compartment?!" Hermione shrugged him off.

"She invited us Ron! Besides, people walk into our compartment without asking all the time."

###########################################################

 _Six months earlier_

Professor McGonagall, Headmistress of Hogwarts School for Witchcraft and Wizardry, entered the Headmaster's study with a frown on her face.

"Albus!" She said urgently. "The wards have activated! Someone is in the-" she stopped abruptly as she caught sight of the man standing in front of the desk. She reached for her wand.

"It's alright Minerva," said Dumbledore, as he lowered the piece of parchment he had been reading. "He is just delivering a message; an interesting one too, might I add."

Professor McGonagall took a proper look at the man, now that he was apparently deemed not a threat. The black leggings and red Japanese-style top, along with the purple rolled-up pack on his back looked like a uniform, but not one she recognised. What was most interesting about him though, was the long wooden rectangular mask secured over his face; showing only his mouth, but with no slits or holes that would allow him vision.

 _'How does he see with that thing over his face?'_ She wondered to herself. Her musings were interrupted by Dumbledore.

"Thank you for delivering this, my boy," he said, eyes twinkling. "Tell your superiors that I will need some time to consider this, but I will send an owl with my answer in a week or so."

"Apologies, Dumbledore-sama," the man said, expression hidden under the mask. "But an owl will not be able to reach my headquarters. Instead, please send any letters to this address, where they will be forwarded to my commanding officer." He pulled a neatly folded piece of paper, tied with string, out of his sleeve and laid it on the desk.

The twinkle in the Headmaster's eyes had dimmed slightly in confusion. "My boy, I don't know if you are aware, but any wizarding owl is able to find any address, anywhere on this good earth. If it is because you worry for the birds' safety, I can always send Fawkes to-"

He was cut off by a dismissive wave of the man's hand as he pulled down the mask to cover his mouth. And even though she could not see his face at all, Professor McGonagall got the distinct impression that he was smirking.

"The Bird of Eternal Life cannot follow where I go, Dumbledore-sama. That is why I am here, and not an animal. Never fear, your answer shall be waited upon with great anticipation." There was a soft whumph! as he disappeared into thin air and the air collapsed to fill the vacuum. McGonagall blinked in surprised. "Albus, was that apparition?"

"No, Minerva, I cannot be sure what it was." She turned to him. "What was in the letter? What could be so important that they had to send someone to deliver it in person?"

Dumbledore sighed, removing his half-moon glasses and placing them carefully on his desk. He held out a paper bag. "Lemon sherbet?"

McGonagall shook her head. He replaced the bag inside his sleeve, but not before taking a sweet himself.

"The government of a magical organisation in Japan is asking my permission to send some of their children here, to Hogwarts," he began.

"Well, that's wonderful Albus, but I don't see why this is so serious, we can easily accommodate a few more students-" She was cut off by Dumbledore raising his hand.

"The reason they are asking me about such a matter is because these children are not human." Seeing her gaping mouth, he sighed again and handed her the letter. "It's probably easier if you read their letter yourself, Minerva."

##########################################################l

 _Albus Percival Wulferic Brian Dumbledore,_

 _Headmaster of Hogwarts School for Witchcraft and Wizardry_

 _I send you friendly greetings from The Magic Society here in Japan. I hope that this letter finds you in good health._

 _As Commander of my organisation, I am writing to request a favour from you in regards to your school. I hope you will consider it carefully._

 _Magical Japan is well known for it's policy of isolation, and although regulations have started to relax, we are still very secretive and protective of our methods. Recently, however, we became embroiled in a civil war. One of our number sort to enhance his own powers by gaining possession of a powerful artifact and using it to combine the powers of others with his own. Thanks to a double agent within his organisation, he was destroyed._

 _However, it was discovered that he had first tested the artifact's powers on magical creatures, commonly known in our field as hollows, resulting in them gaining a large boost in power and intelligence beyond the point of sapience._

 _On the suggestion of one of our healers, who is now deemed a veteran of that war, they were taken in for rehabilitation. Although one has refused help and is currently missing and another is still undergoing therapy due to a head injury she sustained, the others have expressed the desire to co-operate with us. Which brings me to my request._

 _Our Society is still recovering from the devastation brought by the war. Repairs have to be carried out without the notice of Mundanes and bodies must be buried. Due to this sorry state of affairs, the education of our students have suffered and we are unprepared to teach these hollow children (dubbed arrancar, due to a side effect of the process they went through) the ways of magic._

 _I propose that these children be enrolled into Hogwarts for their magical education. If you feel that you cannot continue after one school year, we can remove them and seek to educate them elsewhere._

 _Please send your reply to the address the messenger has been instructed to give you. If your response should be in the affirmative, we can arrange for some of your staff members to come and evaluate the arrancar children._

 _Genryuusai Shigekuni Yamamoto_

 _Commander of The Magical Society_

 _Head Captain of the Gotei 13_


	2. Chapter 2

_Five months and three weeks ago_

There was a sharp crack! as a man and a woman in black robes appeared in front of an old wooden building, the sign of which read(due to a translation charm) 'Urahara Shop'.

Professor McGonagall took a piece of paper out of her robe, unfolded it and scanned it. Yes, this did seem to be the correct address.

"Well," snorted Professor Snape, as he held up a hand to shield his eyes from the glare of the sun on this bright day. "Do you want to knock, or shall I?"

Before either of them could move however, the lattice door slid open slightly and a young girl, around ten years old, poked her head round the door. With her black hair pulled back into two bunches with the wisps of her fringe falling over large, pathetic doe-eyes, McGonagall's heart couldn't help but melt.

"Urahara-san," she called back over her shoulder in a quiet, whispering voice. "The magic Senseis from Britain are here."

"Yare, yare! Arigato, Ururu, I'm coming." A man said from inside. Then the door was flung wide open by, who McGonagall and Snape presumed to be, the owner and namesake of Urahara Shop.

Even though British wizards were sometimes known for their odd taste in colours, they at least made an effort to wear proper robes. Correspondence with the mysterious Commander Yamamoto had revealed that wizards from their Society also wore black robe-like garments. To say that the Professors were surprised would be a slight understatement. What was with this guy and the colour green?

Dark green leggings and a light green Japanese tunic tied with a black sash. Over the top was a holly-green, wide-sleeved open coat with white diamond shapes stitched along the hem. Ridiculous wooden platform sandals on his bare feet and(this really made Snape wince) a white-and-green-striped bucket hat atop his head.

"Ah! Welcome, welcome esteemed Professors! I, Kisuke Urahara, but a humble shop-owner, am honoured to have you here. Do come in, come in!"

######################################################

Snape studied the tea in his cup with a practice eye. It...was actually quite good, to be honest. He took another sip, taking advantage of the movement to study this 'Kisuke Urahara' sitting opposite him. Long, tousled blonde hair poked out from underneath the garish hat, the wide brim of which cast deep shadows over the man's eyes, making it harder to gauge his emotions and intentions. He had produced a cane from somewhere, as well as a fan. The latter he kept in front of his mouth, while the former lay across his lap.

"So, what exactly is your job, Mr Urahara?" Professor McGonagall asked. "I assume it's not just the post-office for your Society under the guise of a general store."

"Ah, such a sharp mind!" The man mused. "You are indeed correct, McGonagall-san. I provide various items that our wizards may require, along with a place to train, or in some particular cases, to stay. Along with my job of relaying messages, I have taken on private students in the past. However, they have somewhat moved on."

"Then why not take on some of these...arrancar students?" Snape asked. The man tipped his head forward slightly, as if feeling some measure of guilt for sins past.

"While my training methods are...effective, they are very practical-orientated and so not much time, if any, is spent on learning the mechanics, the theory or fine-tuned control."

McGonagall set down her empty cup and cleared her throat. "Well, l think I had best address a question that has been bothering us for a while, Mr Urahara. What exactly are hollows?"

Urahara's expression visibly brightened. Snape recognised that look. It was the look of a man who has been asked to talk about a subject he is knowledgeable about.

"I suppose the only British magical creature I can compare to a hollow is a dementor." Both McGonagall and Snape stiffened, but he carried on, regardless.

"A hollow is similar and different to a demetor in several ways. A hollow consumes souls like a dementor, but does not exude negative mental feedback. Whereas dementors are mostly generic in appearance, a hollow can be any size or any shape, but is identifiable through a bony, mask-like structure over the face and a hole through it's chest. My Society regards these creatures as pests and we make it our duty to kill these things with specially enchanted blades which can send the souls a hollow has devoured onto the afterlife at the moment of the hollow's death."

Both McGonagall and Snape were stunned at this revelation. It was Snape who asked the next question, in a now hesitant voice. "What of...arrancar?"

"Ah." Urahara sighed, snapping his fan shut with a sudden 'Clap!' "Another feature that a hollow does not share with a dementor...is that they are cannibals. By consuming another of it's kind, a hollow will gain the energy from the souls that that hollow had previously consumed. The more it eats, the stronger and more intelligent it gets.

However, if a hollow has enough power and conviction, it can divide the nucleus of it's being by breaking off it's mask. It takes the appearance of a human, the only aesthetic difference being mask fragments still attached and a hole through their bodies somewhere on their anatomy. That is an arrancar; the name means broken mask. These beings can revert to their former appearances and powers at will and although they can consume souls, they no longer need to do so, instead feeding off ambient magical energy in the area.

However, a traitor known as Sōsuke Aizen decided to test the power of a certain magical artifact by creating arrancar, as 'super soldiers', you might say. However, he betrayed them and left them to die; so we took them in. While two of the children are natural arrancar, the other's underwent forced evolution, or as we call it, arrancarfication."

McGonagall, who had been sitting shocked at the information, suddenly gasped. "Left them to die? Oh, the poor things."

Snape shot an incredulous glance at her. Had she not heard the bit about cannibalism and consuming souls?

###############################################

"This," Urahara said as he slid open a door in his hallway. "Is Coyote Starrk and Lilynette Gingerback, the two natural arrancar."

McGonagall and Snape honestly weren't expecting them to be so...normal looking.

A lanky teenager of about fifteen with shoulder length brown hair and the wispy beginnings of adolescent facial hair on his chin was sprawled on a futon, snoring quietly. A small ring of teeth along his collarbone seemed to be the 'mask remnants' Urahara had talked about; framing a small, galleon-sized hole through his throat. The eleven-year-old curled up next to him was the more unusual of the two. Her hair was a pale pastel green, but her mask fragment was bigger. It was shaped like a bicycle helmet, coming down into an eye socket over the left eye, hiding it. There was a long, curved horn on the left side, while it's counterpart was no more than a stub.

"Would you believe me if I told you they're twins?" Urahara whispered conspiritally from behind his fan. "No-one knows why they're different ages, but they were definitely born at the same time. They've refused to be separated since we saved them."

"Why do they have different surnames, then?" Snape asked, lowering his voice.

"Arrancar pick their own own names when they become arrancar. When we asked them why they chose those particular names, they said 'they just felt right.'"

They quietly backed out of the room, closing the door behind them.

######################################################

Snape and McGonagall both gaped. They were standing in what appeared to be a barren wasteland under a clear blue sky.

"This..." McGonagall breathed. "Is amazing! However did you build this?"

Urahara tapped the side of his nose. "Ah, ah, ah! Trade secret. This place serves as a training ground, bunker and, if I ever get desperate, somewhere for guests to stay."

There was a loud crash in the distance and a plume of dust billowed into the air. "Oh look! They're over there. Shall we go over and introduce you?"

As they walked, two figures became visible at the base of the cliff from behind which the dust cloud had come. Another figure was perched on top of the cliff in question. As they got closer, they started to pick out what they looked like.

One boy was sitting down, playing with a pack of cards. He had short, messy blonde hair with an eyepatch over his right eye and a green stripe on the jaw of his right cheek. His mask fragment was some upper front teeth set in the middle of his brow. The other boy was standing, leaning against the rock with a hefty book held up in one hand and the other in his pocket. He was angled slightly away from them, so all they could see, was the ridged half-helmet with a sharp horn of his mask fragment. The girl sitting on top of the cliff was hard to make out, but her hair was blonde and she appeared to be watching something from her vantage point.

Urahara waved to them. "Tesla-san! Ulquiorra-san! Harribel-san! I have someone I want you to meet!" The three figures dissolved into blurs, which snaked towards the three adults before stopping abruptly in front of them. **(AN1)**

Both Professors blinked at the sheer speed they had displayed. But now the children were up close, they could have a proper look.

"Professors," Urahara said, wide grin on his face. "Allow me to introduce to you Ulquiorra Cifer, Tesla Lindocruz and Tier Harribel." He gestured to each of them in turn as he spoke.

Tier Harribel was a tall girl of about fourteen. Her skin was a light brown and her hair a golden blonde, with a figure that was a bit on the mature side for a girl of her age. She wore a pale blue halter-neck top that exposed her belly button and denim shorts fastened with a white belt. She also had a scarf wrapped around the lower half of her face, but one could just make out the nubs of bone poking out from over the top of the fabric.

Tesla was the boy with the eye patch. **(AN2)** McGonagall had originally thought that the stripe on his cheek was a plaster, but no, it was some sort of birthmark. The fourteen-year-old looked down nervously, scuffing the ground with his feet. He wore a soft maroon courdoroy shirt that was untucked over plain black trousers.

The other boy though, he made both Snape and McGonagall do a double take. His skin was a startling off-white, apart from the black of his thin lips and the green tear-track marks. If it were not for the longer, shaggier hair and the cat-like slitted eyes, he could have passed for Harry Potter's twin brother, seeing as this boy, presumably Ulquiorra, also appeared to be fourteen. If a little on the short side. Skinny too, even through the white shirt neatly buttoned up over black cargo pants.

But it was when the boy raised those eyes to stare into Snape's own that the older man truly felt the difference. Like Potter's, they were green; but that was where the similarity ended. Whereas the Potter boy's eyes reminded him of the women he had once loved and lost, in more ways than one, these ones were...disturbing. The Potions master felt as if those eyes were flaying him bare, disassembling him into his base components as he did with potions in class. Yet there was no curiosity in those green eyes, just cold, empty logic and an all-encompassing feeling of despair.

And then Ulquiorra blinked and the scrutinising gaze was gone, and in it's place only a blank façade of green.

"Pleasure to meet you," Harribel said, bringing both teachers back to reality.

"Yeah...uh...nice. Sir. Ma'am," Tesla mumbled.

"Indeed," Ulquiorra intoned. That was about as cordial as he was going to get.

"Ah, Harribel-san," Kisuke interrupted. "If you could bring the girls here. Ulquiorra-san, Tesla-san, if you could please wake up Starrk and Lilynette and bring them here as well? I think we're all going to need to have this conversation together." The three walked off in the different directions.

"Well," started Professor McGonagall as she drew her wand. She transfigured several of the scattered boulders lying around into armchairs. "I have a feeling that this is going to last a while, and I doubt it's going to be comfortable to stand for the entire duration."

 **AN1: Their speed has been modified, so while shunpo, sonide and hirenkyaku are on the level of 'was that apparition?' they're more like living colour trails(think Flash from DC)**

 **AN2: Yes it's Tesla. I always kind of felt sorry for the guy, because he's no more than a plot device for the sole purpose of letting Kenpachi curbstomp him. So no he gets some character development.**

 **Somebody asked in the reviews if Nnoitora was the arrancar who refused help mentioned in the letter last chapter. Fourteen/fifteen year old Nnoitora in a school full of kids...(goes and rocks back and forth in the corner for a few minutes) {Ahem} No. I know he has fans and yes, his reserrección is badass, but no. Just, no.**

 **There will be a few explanation-heavy chapters coming up before we go back to The Hogwarts Express. Some of you are probably wondering what the 'fish-thing' Apacci and Mila-Rose were trying to catch on the train. Leave guesses in your reviews. Closest guess gets an imaginary cookie.**


	3. Chapter 3

McGonagall, Snape and Urahara were sitting down when Ulquiorra, Tesla and Harribel returned. Three girls trailed behind Harribel, smudges of dust and scrapes on their faces and arms, who shot murderous glares at each other. They had obviously been the ones causing all the ruckus and the impromptu dust explosions. However, Ulquiorra and Tesla had arrived with Lilynette and Starrk slung over their shoulders, respectively.

Starrk was still snoring, but Lilynette was repeatedly punching Ulquiorra's shoulder while yelling expletives that both Professors would certainly not have expected to hear from an eleven-year-old and more from a fifteen-year-old. Ulquiorra obviously didn't care in the slightest, as he just dropped her onto the ground; eliciting another angry tirade.

"Jerk! I was sleeping, you bloody bastard; what'd'ya have to wake me up for? Hey! Are you listening to me Ulquiorra? Answer me, you emo bastard!"

Suddenly feeling the presence of eyes on her back, the youngest(physically) arrancar froze and turned around. Eleven chairs sat in a semicircle, all but two occupied. The two Professors and Urahara were in the middle; the two wizards were staring at her, while Urahara's face was hidden behind that goddamned fan. Harribel sat to their right with her three fracción, sitting in between Apacci and Mila-Rose so as to limit any arguments. Tesla carefully deposited Starrk on a chair to the left before sitting down next to McGonagall as Ulquiorra stalked with ethereal grace to the end chair on the right.

The young co-Espada, sitting in the dust clad in only dark pink, baggy pyjama top and bottoms, sighed, and got to her feet. She headed for the remains chair, next to Starrk.

"S'pose he needs to be awake, doesn't he," she said, noncommittally jerking her thumb at her sleeping twin.

"If you would, Lilynette-kun," Urahara answered.

Lilynette grinned, drew her fist back and brought it down, hard, on the snoring teen's solar plexus. "Wakey, wakey Starrk, we have guests!"

"Skuh-gaahhck!" Was a rough approximation of what emerged from his mouth mid-snore as Starring was rudely awakened by his diminutive counterpart. Arms flailing, he suddenly found himself in a place that was _not_ his bed in Urahara's back room. Instead, he was surrounded by the grand total of the survivors of Aizen's arrancar army, **(AN1)** with the exception of Neliel and Grimmjow; but with the additions of a man and a woman who didn't look like soul reapers.

Oh. Right. Magic school evaluation. Today.

 _Wonderful._

###############################################

McGonagall cleared her throat.

"Well, I am pleased to say that you have all been accepted into Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. However, because of your...ahem, _unique_ circumstances, you all have to undergo an evaluation by myself and my colleague Professor Snape in order to determine what subjects you are up-to-date with, what areas you will need work on and what year you will be placed in. Is everyone alright with that?" McGonagall looked around the gathered children.

Snape cleared his throat loudly to gain attention. McGonagall looked at him in irritation. "Yes, Severus, what is it?"

The Potions master sat forward in his seat. "I think we'd both like to know what other abilities you brats might have, other than that speed you demonstrated earlier. Exactly what sort of 'super soldiers' are we dealing with here?"

##################################################

From what the Professors could understand, a cero was something akin to a reducto blast, fired from a part of the body without the use of a wand and varied in strength, colour and the need for incantation; based on the individual.

Lilynette's small green one, wordlessly fired from her mask's eye socket, impacted with the small mountain Harribel had been sitting on earlier. Instead of a small, self-contained streak of light, her cero resembled more of a solid beam like a...what did muggles call them again? Ah, yes, a laser. Once the dust settled, they could see the small, basket-ball-sized crater about an inch deep into the rock.

Urahara made all the children demonstrate their ceros. Mila-Rose', Apacci's and Sun-Sung's were bright red and slightly more powerful. However, the three promptly started arguing about whose was stronger; before Harribel silenced them with only a few words. McGonagall noticed the ease that the older girl commanded the three's respect and loyalty with a curious eye, making a mental note about it in the back of her mind.

Snape started to realise that the children were demonstrating the blasts according to power, weakest first, so strongest obviously last. The greasy-haired Potions Professor cast a wary eye over the remaining arrancars. So, who was the strongest?

Tesla's was yellow, and had a slightly smaller blast radius than any of the girls, but the beam was more concentrated, so it drilled further into the rock **(AN2).** Ulquiorra's was a bright teal that cracked the surface of the rock deeply, the beam fired from the pointed, black-nailed finger of his outstretched hand. Harribel's was a gentle sea-blue, but it tore down a large chunk of the rock-face.

"What did the poor rock ever do to you?" Starrk muttered, deadpan. He yawned and climbed to his feet, making no move into any sort of stance as he turned to face the unfortunate piece of sandstone. A tiny blue cero formed, hovering in front of his jawbone necklace, before blasting with not a word from the boy. A spiderweb of cracks lanced across the battered rock's surface as the cloud dissipated, before there was a mighty rumble and the side of the hill collapsed.

Starrk turned to them. The two Professors were gaping, while his fellow arrancar looked either bored or thoughtful. Well, with Ulquiorra it was impossible to tell. The former Primera turned to Urahara. "How much longer is this gonna take? I want to go back to sleep."

#####################################################

The actual school evaluation took quite a few hours; all of which Starrk was forced to remain awake for, much to his chagrin. The Professors found, with only slight surprise, that Urahara had procured a set of curriculum books for all of the seven years and that all of the arrancar had been studying them diligently. However, there was an obvious difference when it came to the practical tests, but nothing that couldn't be corrected with a little extra tutoring. When it was finally over, McGonagall read out the results, basing her decisions on their knowledge and ages.

Coyote Starrk would be a fourth year. **(AN3)**

Tier Harribel a third year.

Emilou Apacci a third year.

Franceska Mila-Rose a third year.

Cyan Sun-Sung a third year.

Tesla Lindocruz a third year.

Ulquiorra Cifer a third year.

Lilynette Gingerback would be first year.

Lilynette was angry to say the least when she heard that she would be in with 'pea-brained midgets who can't tell their arse from a teapot', but she went absolutely ballistic when her brain figured out that she would be separated from her 'twin'. It took Starrk's hand on her shoulder to snap her out of it. He whispered something in her ear that calmed her down, and after that she took on the idea of House and year separation without complaint.

And then Snape spoke up again.

"We won't be hiding the fact that you are what you are, but we are thinking of hiding the...unusual holes in your anatomy. You will also want to omit the part about a hollow's ...dietry habits. However, you will need to go about in the open in order to collect school supplies and board the transport to school, so we will need to hide those mask fragments of yours until you get to school. And I don't think some of them can be covered by clothing."

Urahara's snapped his fan shut and grinned. "Leave that to me, Snape-san."

"But still," McGonagall broke in. "We can hardly expect everyone to take this calmly once we tell them a the Welcome Feast that you aren't human. Even if we do leave out certain parts. The students are bound to write home about it and parents are going to want reassurance that their children are safe!"

Urahara chuckled. "The Society are already on that, McGonagall-san. We have arranged for a chaperone to stay in the nearby village of...Hogsmeade, wasn't it. Since you run school trips there regularly, they can visit him there, or he can pop in while the rest of the school is at the village or on weekends. You can tell the parents that he is there as security for _your_ students and as welfare and guardian for the arrancar. Sound good, atteru?" **(AN4)**

Both Professors were impressed. It did seem like a very secure plan.

"It would be best if he accompanied you around Diagon Alley, as well," McGonagall said. "That way it will be common knowledge that there is someone looking after you. Gossip travels fast there."

"The bastard will need to buy a wand as well," Apacci muttered, but she received a piercing glare from Urahara, at which her eyes widened in realisation of what she just said."

"Won't he have a wand already?" Snape asked, the Slytherin in him picking up something remiss in the story.

"Ah, no," Urahara sighed dramatically. "His wand was destroyed early on in the war, and he relied on his other skills. Not such a problem for us as it would be for you, you understand. All in The Society are trained in the physical arts of fighting. No use hunting hollows with a sword if you cannot use one, is there?"

McGonagall nodded, "makes sense." But Snape picked up the slight wince in some of the children's eyes.

"So, when can we meet this chaperone?" He asked. Urahara tapped his chin thoughtfully with his closed fan.

"Not today, I'm afraid. The joys of political paperwork he has to go through in order to arranger this, you understand."

"I have a question." Harribel said suddenly, fixing her aquamarine eyes on the two Britishers.

"What's your policy on pets?"

 **Author's Note:**

 **Shorter chapter this time(please don't kill me), but I don't want to overload anyone's brains with several explanations all at once and if I cut it here the next chapter should flow better anyway.**

 **AN1: Sorry people, but these are the only arrancar going to Hogwarts for this year. (Grimmjow and Nel will make an appearance in Fourth and Fifth year) I'm afraid that they're the only ones who survived. (Szyale-Aporro Granz at Hogwarts. Oh God. Run. No, strike that. Just commit suicide there and then.)**

 **AN2: Can you see Nnoitora having a fracción who can't put up a decent fight or who doesn't have a more-powerful-than-average cero? No, neither can I.**

 **AN3: Starrk's pretty smart when he's not sleeping. Plus he was the Primera. 'Nuff said. I made him 'fifteen' anyway.**

 **AN4: 'Atteru?' is the Japanese version of 'right?' As in searching for clarification. Literal translation is 'am I right?'**

 **The 'fish-thing' will be explained next chapter, so keep those guesses coming people.**

 **And I wonder who our mysterious chaperone could be? (Oh, I am going to get _sooooo_ many reviews and favourites when you find out who it is.)**


	4. Chapter 4

**Wimallidge was kind enough to point out to me that I have been spelling some of the arrancar's names wrong. It should be Gingerbuck, not Gingerback, Sung-Sun, not Sun-Sung and Mila Rose, not Mila-Rose. I will try and spell them the right way from now on, but if I do accidentally spell them wrong; I'm sorry, please try to ignore it. Hints, tips and constructive criticism is appreciated.**

 **There's a lot of headcanon in this chapter, but hopefully my line of thinking should be easy enough to follow.**

 _Flashback_

 _Head Captain Genryuusai Shigekune Yamamoto had seen many strange things in his lifetime. And considering that he was well over a thousand years old and his people dealt with freakish-looking hollows on a daily basis; safe to say it took a lot to surprise him. The arrival of Ichigo Kurosaki at Rukia Kuchiki's execution and the subsequent interruption of the the great phoenix-like spirit of the Soukyouku had merely raised his eyebrow. Now, however, he was sincerely wishing that he would wake up from this surreal, twisted dream(there was no other explanation for this state of affairs) to his nice, normal morning tea and paperwork._

 _"Urahara Kisuke! EXPLAIN YOURSELF!"_

 _Twentyfour pairs of Soul Reaper eyes were fixated upon the group of teenagers clustered together in the middle of the hall; whose own eyes were a mix of courage, shock, complete deadpan and sheer, unadulterated terror._

 _When he had ordered Urahara to come up with a way to somehow suppress and monitor the powers of the arrancar prisoners-of-war, he had imagined something along the lines of a kido-based binding or a special gigai. Not...this! Not...de-aging of the soul form!_

 _"Alright, I'll admit that it probably wasn't what you were expecting. But can you at least hear me out, Head Captain?"_

 _The Head Captain let a tiny fragment of his reiatsu slip loose to signify his displeasure. Some of the lieutenants started to feel sweat beading on their brows involuntarily. "Ten. Minutes."_

 _At the far end of the hall, 12th Squad Captain Mayuri Kurotsuchi grinned his sadistic grin from ear to ear. He pulled something green and slimy resembling a pocket watch out of his haori, pressed a few buttons and smirked at the figure of Kisuke Urahara who stood in front of the Head Captain._

 _"Pedantic," 10th Squad Captain Toshiro Hitsugaya muttered in resignation of his clown-faced compatriot's antics._

 _Urahara swallowed nervously. Not only was the Head Captain demanding an explanation, but some of the other Captains would want to talk to him as well; not to mention the arrancar behind him were most likely slightly pissed. The presence of all the Captains of Soul Society was probably the one thing stopping them from taking out that anger on him. He'd better make this good then._

 _"Well, first I thought of something like the Gentai Kaijo, but I dismissed that idea as it only works on Soul Reapers. Then, when Kurosaki's friends were debriefed when they got back from Hueco Mundo, they revealed to me that the former Third Espada, Neliel Tu Oderschvanck had reverted to childhood when her mask was cracked, along with a loss of memory and a dramatic decrease in power; despite still being able to perform her signature techniques._

 _I theorised that an arrancar's mask fragment stabilises their reiatsu, otherwise their physical form would degrade in some way. I mean, what's the point of having a bit of the mask left over, if not that? I realised that if I could control the breaking of the mask, then I could control what parts of their reiatsu that they lost and to what degree._

 _Neliel-kun lost all of her reiatsu uncontrollably, which is why her transformation was so catastrophic. But I managed to successfully break the mask fragments of our arrancar in a controlled manner; while they retain all of their memories and still possess their original techniques, the power behind them is now significantly less than a Captain's."_

 _"We are still here, y'know?" Lilynette muttered._

 _"Indeed," Sung-Sun added. "Oh, and, 'our arrancar'? While I can't speak for the others, I only answer to Harribel-sama." The snake fracción met the piercing glares of Lieutenants Matsumoto and Hinamori with dispassionate ease._

 _"If I might interrupt?"_

 _A Captain from near the front of the hall stepped forward. She was petite and delicate, with a serene smile and long dark hair braided down her front. Instead of the normal white obi sash, she wore her black shihakusho kimono-style. Healer division 4th Squad, Captain Retsu Unohana; the most terrifying current Captain in the Gotei 13, mainly because even 11th Squad Captain, Kenpachi Zaraki didn't dare question her. **(AN1)**_

 _The Head Captain nodded to her in acknowledgment. She smiled and folded her hands in front of her as she addressed the unusual assembly._

 _"As Kisuke has just told you, the mask fragment of former Espada Neliel Tu Oderschvanck was severely damaged, resulting in her reversion to childhood, amongst other things. However, when Ichigo Kurosaki's life was in danger, she was able to return to adulthood and briefly succeed at resurreción. However, because her mask was damaged and therefore her reiatsu still leaking and unstable, she was unable to sustain either her resurreción or her adult form. It was only because she was focusing solely on protecting Kurosaki that she was able to temporarily muster her leaking reiatsu. However, we may be able to repair her mask._

 _Like everything in both Hueco Mundo and Soul Society, everything is made up of reishi. So theoretically, we can replace the missing pieces of her mask fragment with more reishi; with help from Uryuu Ishida of course."_

 _There was a strangled "What?!" from Kurotsuchi. Unohana smiled serenely at him as he opened his mouth to protest. He thought better of it when he started shivering from the aura of primal fear she was sending his way and closed his mouth._

 _"As I was saying. As a Quincy, Ishida has the ability to absorb reishi and manipulate it into a different physical form. Through the use of his charm bracelet as a template, he manifests a bow. However, with a little practice, he should be able to reform the broken mask pieces and bind them to the original structure._ _The process will have to be gradual, of course, but once completed her reiatsu will stabilise and gather, enabling her to age normally and eventually return to adult form."_

 _"The Quincy brat is just a child; you can't possibly expect him to perform such a procedure!" Kurotsuchi ranted. "Now, if you would just give that arrancar over to me, I could...'" He froze as the reiatsu levels in the room skyrocketed. All of the Captains and a majority of the Lieutenants were glaring at him in such a way that, if looks could kill, he would have been reduced to a smouldering pile of radioactive slop._

 _"You will not lay a hand on the Quincy, or any of the arrancar, Mayuri," 13th Squad Captain Juushiro Ukitake snapped; his usually calm and mild tone now harsh and edged with disgust and anger. "We haven't forgotten your actions after the Quincy massacre, and it is only your formidable skills and scientific prowess that enable us to excuse your ethics."_

 _The teenage arrancar looked at each other in puzzlement. "Okay," Starrk said, blinking owlishly. "I really think we're missing something here." **(AN2)** He was ignored._

 _"You also have no right to insult the boy, Kurotsuchi," came another, more elegant and refined voice. "Especially when you complemented him when you first fought, on his use of complex Quincy techniques that would be impossible for another Quincy his age. I believe you called him a genius?" 6th Squad Captain, Lord Byakuya Kuchiki said, as he opened his eyes; the cool grey gaze settling on the painted scientist's scowling visage._

 _"ENOUGH!" Came the Head Captain's voiced, the command punctuated by the slam of his heavy wooden cane on the floorboards. "Captain Unohana and the Quincy Uryuu Ishida shall continue the treatment of the arrancar Neliel Tu Oderschvanck without interference from you, Captain Kurotsuchi. You will also refrain from meddling in the affairs of the other arrancar in any way, unless I give my explicit permission to the contrary."_

 _"Eh, Yama-jii?" Interjected another voice. "I think this whole de-aging thing may be a bit of a problem in the long run." 8th Squad Captain, Shunsui Kyouraku said as he stepped forward, pulling the brim of his straw sakkat down to cover his face as he spoke. "Ah, I'm not complaining about the method as such, it's just that it leaves them kind of vulnerable._

 _After all, it's not just us in the upper ranks who hated Aizen, and now that he's dead, some in the lower ranks might choose to take out their anger on our young friends here. And the fact that their power has been reduced to only that of seated officers...well, the end result might not be pretty if it's not a fair fight."_

 _Lieutenant Hinamori, Acting-Captain of Squad 5, flinched at the mention of Aizen's name. But she knew that Captain Kyouraku was right; Squad 5 in particular had taken the betrayal extremely hard._

 _"Then them staying in Soul Society isn't an option, is it?" 7th Squad Captain, the half-demon Sajin Komamura rumbled. **(AN3)** "The Living World isn't very secure and it would be unfair to Kisuke Urahara to unload them onto him."_

 _"Is nobody going to ask us how unfair that would be on us?" Mila Rose muttered under her breath, quietly, so that none of the Soul Reapers heard._

 _"What about that community of curious hybrids up North in Hokkaido?" Captain Ukitake cut in again. "We have strong ties with their government's Minister, even if he doesn't know what we are. With gigais, and the Minister's backing, we could situate them there."_

 _"Wouldn't work," 2nd Squad and Stealth Force Commander Captain Sui-Feng butted in. "The mountains mean that reception on the soul pagers is notoriously bad and Hell Butterflies are more unreliable than electronic communication. It would be too easy to plan some type of ambush up there without us noticing."_

 _"Those humans that can manipulate the spiritual energy within a specific object to perform Kido-type spells, but have no spiritual awareness?" Asked 10th Squad Captain Toshiro Hitsugaya. "That...might actually work. But we could put them in one of those communities in another country, one that is difficult to access by senkaimon and too far away to Flash Step to without being noticed. We could use our ties with the community in Hokkaido to construct a cover story."_

 _"There is still the matter of our child-like appearance," came the smooth, flat voice of the former Cuarta Espada, Ulquiorra Cifer as he stepped forward from the midst of the group of teenagers. Completely undeterred by the Soul Reaper's eyes upon him, he merely stood there in his usual manner; hands in his pockets, with his eyes closed. "If we were still adults, our presence would have to be explained but not unreasonable. However, we appear as children and no doubt these humans you talk of will require an explanation of who we are and why we are there."_

 _"That will not be a problem," said the Head Captain. "There is a community in Britain well known for it's teaching facilities in their ways. You can simply be students there; once we sort out the cover story of course."_

 _"School," said Starrk. "Please tell me you're not serious. Us; school?"_

 _End of Flashback_

#####################################################

Neither Professor McGonagall or Professor Snape specialised in Magical Creatures, but they were both pretty sure that these animals could not be found in any book or treatise.

Harribel had taken her pet out of it's small glass bowl and now it was hovering above her right shoulder.

It appeared to be a tiny shark, about the size of her hand. But had no gills and possessed the power of flight with no appendages that would make that possible. **(AN4)** Blue lightning-bolt markings coming from it's eyes emblazoned it's blue-grey sides and it's teeth appeared to be on the outside of it's mouth. It also had small gold ring piercings in it's fins and tail.

Harribel reached up and stroked it along it's back as it crooned softly, bumping it's snout against the side of her face in a show of affection.

"Miss," asked McGonagall. "Exactly what type of animal is that?"

"They're similar to wizarding familiars, Professor-san," Starrk began. "We all have them, except for myself and Lilynette. Even though they all look different, they're all the same species, you could say.

We call them zanpakuto."

 **Dun, dun, duuuuuuun!**

 **AN1: If you keep up with the manga, you will know why this is.**

 **AN2: It's possible that Aizen might have told them about the Quincy Massacre, but I doubt that they know about Mayuri's experiments.**

 **AN3: Again, if you keep up with the manga, you will know why I called him a half-demon.**

 **AN4: Like those mist sharks from the Doctor Who 'A Christmas Carol' Christmas Special.**

 **Kira Akuma was the closest guess with 'fish fiend from Final Fantasy X' I suppose. Have a cookie!**

 **One of the main reasons I started this story is because I have several headcanons in the back of my head. Plus, I am pleased to announce that I may have started a new Fanfiction market with 'Anime-bad-guys-go-to-Hogwarts'.**

 **Cyan96, I promise you will not be disappointed with the dementors. I mean, the dementors are a lot like hollows, and even though they don't need to, arrancar are still able to...le gasp! SPOILERS! YOU WILL FIND OUT SOON ENOUGH!**

 **Yes they will get wands.**


	5. Chapter 5

**I want to thank everyone who reviewed this story so far. Thank, all you wonderful people! It is your encouraging comments that allow me to update! To make up for that long wait for an update, here's an extra long chapter; plus, so many of you are going to fangirl at who the chaperone is.**

 _In an unknown location_

 _The man winced and grabbed at his left arm as she brushed past him, her shoulder bumping his. He bit his lip to stop himself yelling out in pain, but it still came out as a muffled whimper._

 _"Oh no! Oh, I'm so sorry!" She gasped out, her immediate reaction to seeing him in pain; before a mask of dispassionate concern fell over her face. "I mean, I apologise for crashing into you. Are you unharmed?"_

 _He promptly slipped on his own face mask; a long-suffering smile. Inside, he was wincing. 'I'm sorry, I'm so, so sorry for doing what I did. I didn't want him to hurt anyone, especially you, ever again. It was the only way.' "Oh, don't worry about it, it's nothing." 'Lies. The lies, they hurt. Hurt so much.'_

 _She remembered when things were different, when life seemed so simple. He used to come up behind her and kiss her on the cheek when she was writing, she would laugh and push him away and then he would smile at her, a real smile just for her and then she would tease him and they would both laugh... But no. Things were different now; they had to be._ _Her gaze flickered to his sleeve, where there was a small red patch steadily growing on his upper arm._

 _His battered body, sweating and wracked with pain, blood and saliva dribbling from his lips._

 _No, don't think about that._

 _Eyes glazed over with pain, staring off into the distance._

 _Don't think..._

 _Tears, her tears, falling onto his pale, drawn face and sliding down his cheeks as if they were his own._

 _Don't..._

 _She turned quickly walked swiftly away. Only when she had turned the fifth corner did she let the tears, unbecoming of someone of her station gather and trickle down her face._

 _He stood there for a few minutes after she left, staring at the wall around which her retreating form had vanished. His eyes, a startling pale blue were blank and glassy as he lifted his left hand to stare at it. He reached to his mouth and with his fingertip, absentmindedly traced the cold, indifferent smile he wore. Then he turned, and walked swiftly in the opposite direction to his office._

 _'This mask is all I have left.'_

 _#################################################_

Once the two English Professors had left, Urahara breathed a deep with of relief as he went back down the trapdoor stairs to the basement.

"Yare, yare! At least that went smoothly." The juvenile Espada weren't paying attention to him, apart from Harribel, Sung-Sun and Tesla. Starrk and Lilynette were sharing an armchair, both fast asleep. Apacci and Mila Rose were squabbling and Ulquiorra had retrieved his book from somewhere.

"It seems we'll have to go shopping, mou?" The shopkeeper crowed delightedly as he broke the seal on one of a stack of letters he held and surveyed the contents. Harribel daw her name written in cursive green ink on the envelope and snatched it, and the letter, from his grasp.

She read through it and quirked an eyebrow.

"Plenty of books," she said finally, after a long pause. "At least Ulquiorra will be happy."

##########################################################

 _Flashback_

 _"I refuse."_

 _There was a mumble of assent from behind the teenage Ulquiorra Cifer from the other Espada and even some of the Soul Reapers. Harribel stepped forward. "We refuse to leave behind our zanpakuto in order to go to this school. Even if they are not sapient in the same way that Soul Reaper's zanpakutos are, they are still half of our souls and we will not be parted from them."_

 _Suddenly, Urahara coughed meaningfully and the entire assembly turned to him. "I do have a theory we could put in place in order to reach a compromise."_

 _"You see, I was thinking about how arrancar zanpakuto are made, I mean, it's not like they have ausachi. Turns out that they're just the reishi particles making up the original hollow form condensed and stabilized as another form. Energy cannot be created or destroyed, remember?_

 _And then Tesla-san here told me that 5th Espada Nnoitora Gilga's zanpakuto looked quite different to what we knew it as. That started me thinking that an arrancar can change the appearance of their zanpakuto in it's sealed state. And as Lilynette-kun is Starrk-san's zanpakuto, it should be possible for these arrancar zanpakuto to achieve at least sentience, if not sapience._

 _Unfortunately, I only got as far as near-sentience, but oh well..."_

 _"You. Did. WHAT?!"_

 _End Flashback_

 _######################################################_

As soon as the Professors made it back into the wards of Hogwarts, they went straight to the Headmaster's office. When they got there the man was sitting back in his chair, looking through the papers on his desk. He looked up at them as they entered, eyes twinkling through his half-moon glasses.

"Ah, you're back," he said warmly. "Do tell me, how did it go?"

The proceeded to relate to him all that had happened. Snape even showed Dumbledore his memory of the children showing off the strength of their ceros.

McGonagall left after she gave her report on where she had placed them and it was at that point that Dumbledore drew Snape aside. "Did you get a chance to verify their story, Severus?"

Snape shuddered slightly. Yes, he had been given orders by Dumbledore to use occlumency on the arrancar children, but what he had seen...'

He had only targeted Tesla, as he seemed to be the least confident and most insecure out of all of them. The memories had been more...disjointed than he expected, **(AN1)** unlike a magical's mind, where memories were experienced wholely and clearly.

 **Sand. White, white sand. Black sky, empty sky. Crescent moon, dead moon. Hunger, so hungry. Gnawing, biting, scratching, aching, tearing, ripping, jabbing, stabbing, grabbing, clawing, running, crushing, oozing, gushing, screaming, bleeding. HUNGER!**

 **Walls, city. Las Noches. Inside, inside. Blue. Clouds. Blue sky. Man, smiling man. Chains. Box. Jewel. Power. POWER. HEAD. MY HEAD! PAIN!**

 **Small, white. White clothes. Arrancar. Espada. 5th. Nnoitora. Master. Strong master. Obey master, fight for master. Die for master.**

 **Small boy. Crush him! Big. Big man. Fear, feel fear. Crush him! Sword. Pain. Master!**

 **Waking. Cell. Safe, no pain. Safe. Sword. Where sword? Surrounded. Powerful people. Dangerous. Comrades, powerful. Safe with arrancar.**

Snape had hurriedly pulled out of the boy's mind, who, thankfully, hadn't noticed. In his peripheral vision, he thought he saw Kisuke Urahara's eyes scanning him from behind that fan. But when he looked properly, it was not so. He was mistaken, the man hadn't seen anything; he was just being paranoid, that's all!

In truth, he hasn't got any information at all, just flashes of images and raw emotion. But from what he could determine, their story did check out. He just couldn't be certain.

"Yes, their story does check out," he reported finally, after a few moments thought. "But it does seem that before their... for want of a better word, hybridisation; they had a great capacity for physical violence and felt no remorse over killing. I'm starting to doubt your decision to enroll them even more."

The Headmaster stroked his beard thoughtfully. "Yes, but hopefully we can avoid anything unpleasant; I believe Minerva mentioned a chaperone they had arranged? Tell me, what is he like?"

Snape shook his head. "They couldn't bring him in to meet us at that time. Something about the bureaucracy of paperwork, I think. However, they did give me a file on him; though I doubt it will be very comprehensive."

The Potions master drew a thin brown Manila folder from his black robes and dropped it on the desk.

###############################################

 _Present day, near the Hogwarts Express_

The cold slipstream of the wind against the sides of the train did not, in any way, hamper the fluttering black creatures who followed the thundering transport like ravens at a funeral. Or maybe hyenas; after all, they would be the ones doing the killing...and eating.

A few of the younger dementor had already got close enough to the train to feel the delectable cocktail of emotional energy oozing from between the metal plating. They had already started scratching their long, jagged nails along the roof when the older dementors hissed at them to back away, they had a duty to fulfill.

But while the younger were impulsive and the older duty-bound, the oldest of the group were ruthless and cunning. And also slightly insane. These ancient ones would suck the souls of any children they deemed tasty, consequences be damned. And wouldn't you know it, they were feeling peckish.

##############################################

 _Three months ago_

The shop assistant groaned despairingly as the group of Hogwarts students entered the shop. Most of them looked like they would be needing The Monster Book of Monsters. Maybe if she wished really hard, they would all be only first years, and just need a pet.

No such luck.

The woman watched in mounting horror as what looked to be the first hear of the group, a young girl with pastel green hair, reached out for the cage of snarling books. She opened her mouth to shout a warning as she seized the thick leather gloves(already ripped, they were new this morning) and long stick.

Then she stood there, gaping, as the books suddenly spasmed in fear, clambering over each other in a bid to get to the furthest opposite corner from the girl.

"Yes, six of those please," came a smooth, cordial voice. The girl looked to be a third or fourth year, with thick, golden-blonde hair and coffee-coloured skin. Then she fully processed what the girl had said. Her face paled.

"Oh, God!" She wailed. "I hate those twice-damned books!"

But to to her surprise, and delight, once each of the third years laid a hand on their respective books, the things whimpered pitifully and froze.

"Who's got the money?" The blonde said, turning her head to look at the rest of the group, who all shrugged. "Ugh, what's taking him so long? He's only picking out owls."

Then, the bell on the shop door rang again, as a man with a caged owl in each hand pushed open the door with his foot.

"Maa, sorry!" He called out as the door shut behind him. "I couldn't decide which owls to pick, they were all so pretty! Not to worry, I got these two; they'll be fine for us!"

He set the two cages down on the floor, one containing a barn owl and the other a pure white snowy owl. The former krekked and the latter hissed; both to signify their displeasure at the undignified treatment.

"The snowy is Hakkotsu, and the other is Muntsume," he said, pointing to each of them in turn. **(AN2)** "You can take Hakkotsu to school with you, and Muntsume will stay with me in Hogsmeade."

The shop assistant stared at the man. He wasn't in wizarding robes like the children, but in jeans along with a red-and-black check shirt with long sleeves and a black bandanna around his neck.

He rummaged around in the satchel slung over his shoulder and drew out a small bag of money. "Right, you got books. I suppose we need to pay for them, don't we?"

#############################################

The bell tinkled as the door to Ollivander's wands was pushed open. The old man in question appeared from out behind the counter as a large group of people stepped inside.

"Ah, welcome! What can I do for you young ones?"

"We are here for wands, that's why we're in a wand shop." Said a tall teen with long brown hair and a sleepy expression.

A frown creased the old man's forehead. "But surely you must already have wands? You are certainly older than is usually expected to be receiving your first wands; ah, apart from the young lady here, of course." Lilynette scowled.

"They were found to be magical long after they should have been; they had been managing without wands and with a little instinctive magic for quite a while," came a soft, clipped voice from behind the children. "Oh, and I need a wand too, mine was destroyed in battle."

Ollivander eyed the man curiously, but said nothing about how the man had used the word 'battle', not 'duel'. "Well, it would probably be best if you went last then, that way it will be quicker. Right!" He said, turning to the assembled children. "Who wants to go first?"

A small girl with pastel green hair pushed her way to the front and stood before him, arms folded and with a wary but defiant look in her pink eyes.

"And what is your name, miss?"

"Lilynette. Lilynette Gingerbuck."

"Thank you, what a pretty name. If you could please hold out your wand hand?"

She thought for a moment, then stuck out her sword hand; her right. She flinched when the tape measure moved under it's own free will, but only stared wide-eyed at the thing as it took her measurements.

The old man disappeared into the back of the shop and emerged soon after, carrying a long, slim box. He took away the measuring tape and opened the box, presenting the wand inside to the girl in front of him. "Birch and unicorn tail hair, eleven inches. Give it a wave and see how it feels."

Feeling foolish, she sliced it through the air as if it were her scimitar. There was a sharp crack, and a tinkle of glass as a windowpane spontaneously imploded. Lilynette yelped and stepped back. "Sorry! I didn't..." But before she could complete her apology, the wand was snatched out of her grasp by Ollivander, who didn't look upset at all.

"No, no, definitely not unicorn. Here," he said suddenly, pushing another wand into her hands. "Dragon heartstring and yew, twelve and a half inches. Try it."

After another two tries, both of which ended in more broken windows, Ollivander gave her another wand, a grin on his face. Lilynette flicked it, and suddenly felt it absorb a little of her reiatsu; as if she was charging a cero, but the drain was much less. Streaks of blue light sprang from the tip of her wand and flew around the room, accompanied by an echoing chorus of howls, as if there was a pack of invisible wolves present.

"Apple wood and veela hair, ten inches" Ollivander grinned. "I don't make wands with veela hair myself, but that's one from when my father owned the business; it looks like it finally found an owner. Right!" He said, turning to the rest of the group. "Who's next?"

###################

And of course, the Tres Bestias had to start arguing that they each wanted to go next. Tier then displayed her completely suitable and well-honed team management skills. By punching all three of them. Hard. She then pushed Starrk forward; who shot a glare at her, then yawned and stuck out his arm.

It took five tries before he found his wand; willow and dragon heartstring, fourteen inches.

###

Now that the girls had finally calmed down, they received their wands.

Mila Rose, with many broken chairs, found hers; ash and phoenix feather, twelve and a half inches.

Apacci got an ash and unicorn tail hair, twelve inches.

Sung-Sun received a wand that was also a leftover of the current Ollivander's father; ash and coral, eleven inches.

Now that she didn't have to worry about the three of them trying to kill each other for the next five minutes, Tier stepped forward. A twelve and three quarter inch cypress and mermaid scale. Silently pleased, she stepped back and refocused on her fracción.

Tesla mustered as much confidence as he could and hesitantly came to the front. It took a while, but he also ended up with an old, unclaimed wand; elm and troll whisker, eleven inches.

###

Ulquiorra, however, defied all that Ollivander threw at him. Each wand he was given would turn black and hard, the wood only returning to normal when he relinquished his grip.

After about an hour and a half, with no success, Ollivander exited from his back room, with a wide, shallow box in his hands and a grave expression.

"Mister Cifer, we have narrowed it down to the appropriate wand wood, but no core will accept you. After observing you, I have a theory I would like to try out. If the material in this box proves suitable for your wand core, I can custom make a wand for you. If not...then I have nothing else to offer."

Ulquiorra's pupils shrunk slightly- the closest he ever came to surprise- and nodded in acknowledgment. "Very well. Let us proceed."

Ollivander opened the box, revealing a thick clump of long hairs, that were black and looked slightly glassy, resting on the red velvet lining. Reaching out his hand, he brushed his fingers against one of them, sending out a trickle of reiatsu. The hairs seemed to absorb it and use it to fill themselves up, as they slowly became encompassed in an unwavering black light tinged with teal green.

Ulquiorra wished that the in-depth analytical properties of his eyes in spirit form extended to the flimsy optical organs of the gigai he was sealed into. However, from what little he could dedeuce, the wand core material contained a fragment of the spiritual core of the magical animal it had belonged to; the source of 'magic'. The wood was merely a conductor and the stick-shape a focusing point for the 'spells'. It seemed that certain cores and conductors could only accommodate certain neurological pathways; hence the 'wand choosing the wizard' shpiel. The difference between magicals and 'muggles', was that only magicals had pathways leading from a certain part of the brain to the hands; which was what enabled them to channel their focus into the wand they held.

Ollivander was nodding slowly, still staring at the glowing hairs in the box he held. "I see. Redwood and thestral hair. A very unusual combination. I can have this wand ready by tomorrow, if you would come and pick it up then?"

"Yeah, don't see why we can't," said the man behind them, as Ulquiorra stepped back. "I'll need to check things first, but we should be able to make it."

"Ah, yes," Ollivander said as he closed the box and stored it under the counter. "If you would like to step up sir, and hold out your wand hand?"

###

The wand was found relatively quickly, snakewood and kelpie mane.

"Are you with these children sir?" Ollivander asked as the man pulled a money bag out the bag on his shoulder.

"Yeah, I'm looking after them for the duration of the school year. A chaperone, if you will."

"I see. May I have your name for the store record?"

"Gin. Gin Ichimaru."

 **###**

 **Gin is aliiiive! But from Soul Society's point of view, he was a pretty good choice. Hollows(and, by default, arrancar) are pack creatures. Since Gin was Aizen's second in command, he's still going to have some authority over the Espada. Doesn't mean Soul Society totally let him off the hook though...hehe.**

 **AN1- Arrancar are still partly made of instinct. So their emotions are pretty difficult to reason out.**

 **AN2- Hakkotsu means bleached bone and Muntsume means Moon claw. Hakkotsu is an adult male snowy, that's why he's and absolute pure white and doesn't have black spots.**

 **Wands**

 **Lilynette- Apple tree stands for youth and veela hair is known for being temperamental (jerkjerkjerkjerk...').**

 **Stark- Willow means learning from the past, and dragon heartstring is known to be a really powerful core.**

 **Sung-Sun- Ash means sacrifice and coral is very beautiful and elegant.**

 **Apacci- Ash=sacrifice. Her adjuchas form and her mask fragment have unicorn horns, so...'**

 **Mila Rose- Ash=sacrifice. Phoenix feather because she can spit fire when in resurreción/adjuchas form.**

 **Harribel- Cypress also means sacrifice, but has the additional meaning of higher awareness. Mermaid scale should be obvious.**

 **Tesla- Elm means inner strength, and I suppose his resurreción is kind of like a troll. (Legit wand core according to Harry Potter Wiki)**

 **Ulquiorra- Redwood symbolises eternity. Thestrals have bat wings, plus thestral wands are very indifferent towards their owners; kind of like a certain Emospada.**

 **The reasons why Ollivander didn't have a ready-made thestral wand in stock are: thestrals are unlucky, the hairs are hard to collect/obtain and the only _known_ thestral wand in the Potter-verse is the Elder wand.**

 **Nyarth, your suggestion is a good one and I do plan on using it, but since spiritual pressure isn't sensed like that, more like a 'sixth sense' sort of thing, I won't use their sense of smell.**

 **That's the Enrolment Arc done, now back to the Hogwarts Express and the Reveal Arc!**


	6. Chapter 6

**Back on the Hogwarts Express, everybody, where we first started. From now on, we're following the book and there will be less flashbacks/jumping scenes.**

 **Also, I forgot about Gin's wand meanings. Snakewood; because he has that whole snake comparison thing going on. A kelpie is a shape-shifting water imp who can appear as either a horse or human, and is known to use it's skills for trickery and pranks that usually result in the victim's death. Gin had the whole super-secret triple agent lone wolf thing going on. 'Nuff said.**

Harry, Ron and Hermione all gathered behind Harribel at the entrance of her compartment as she knocked on the door. "We have visitors, people," she said loudly. "They've come to say hello, so be nice, okay?" She slid the door open.

Hermione knew that the carriages were most likely spelled to somehow fit a lot of people inside them, but still; eight people, plus luggage and animals seemed a lot. And considering that the three girls seemed to spend most of their time arguing, that space looked pretty small.

A lanky older year was snoring away in one of the window seats, despite his head resting against the cold glass of the pane. A small first year with pale green hair that covered one eye was scowling at her self as she wrapped her arm in gauze. After sticking it down with a plaster, she thrust the roll back into the hands of the sandy-blonde boy sitting across from her and rolled the sleeve of her robe down before glaring at Tier.

"Harribel, that thing is vicious," she growled as Tier opened the grille on a glass fishbowl and slipped her dazed pet inside; before closing and locking it.

"Oh?" The older girl said smoothly, turning to face the other. "Thank you for the compliment Lilynette; but need I remind you that you're the one who got her out of her bowl in the first place so you could set her on Coyote?"

Lilynette blushed red and mumbled something along the lines of 'It wasn't a compliment, Jerk,' as she folded her arms and slumped back in her seat.

Tier turned to Harry, Ron and Hermione. "Sorry, she's the one who let Tibby **(AN1)** out of her bowl and caused such a commotion." She turned back to the compartment. "Hey. Tesla. Budge up for our guests, will you?"

The blonde boy nodded and shuffled up as far as he could against the pile of cases on the seat. Seeing Tier's benign glance, the Trio squeezed themselves onto the seat while the four girls redistributed the animal cages on their side so they could do the same.

Alarmed by the strangers, a pure white owl in the top cage hissed and fluffed up it's feathers, glaring at the intruders with gold eyes.

"Oh, she's beautiful!" Exclaimed Hermione, "What's her name and what sort of owl is she?" Affronted, the owl swiveled it's head to face her and clacked it's beak in blatant annoyance.

"Er, Hakkotsu is male," Tesla answered quietly. "And, um, I think he's slightly offended."

Hermione's cheeks reddened. "Oh, erm, I'm sorry." Apparently mollified by the apology, the owl huffed and turned it's gaze to the scenery rushing past outside the window.

"Hakkotsu's a nice name," Harry said, drawing the attention away from Hermione's blunder. "Did you name him after something, or does the name mean something."

"Hakkotsu means 'bleached bone'," Sung-Sun said. "Somebody else named him though. Even though he's a snowy owl, I'm not sure if he was named after his colour, or if the man was just being ironic."

"A snowy?" Ron cut in, disbelieving. "Girl, Harry's owl is a snowy and she's got spots. I think someones's sold you a jinxed bird," he said, condescending dismissal in his voice. He missed the fleeting frowns that skimmed the foreheads of the five girls and Tesla's flinch at the criticism. Fortunately, Hermione did, and punched him lightly in the shoulder.

"Ron! Don't be so rude! Besides, haven't you heard of gender differentiation?" Ron stared at her.

"What? I was just saying! And how the Hell am I supposed to know what that is?!"

"It was rude, even if you were right or not. And it's what makes boys look different from girls!"

"Look different...but Hedwig...Ohhhhh.'"

Harry cleared his throat politely so as to catch Tier's attention.

"Uh, sorry, but I don't think we've been properly introduced to everyone. I'm Harry, that's Ron and Hermione."

Her gaze softened slightly and she nodded in acknowledgement. "A pleasure, Harry. I am Tier Harribel. Despite what the some may call me, I am not nobility, I just have their respect and loyalty."

"You have earned it, Lady Harribel, and therefore deserve it," broke in the small, black-haired girl. "I am Cyan Sung-Sun, and I follow My Lady."

"And me. My name is Emilou Apacci, and I would do anything for her."

"I, Franceska Mila Rose, would also give my life for Lady Harribel."

Slightly stunned by such conviction, the Trio were broken out of their state by the green-haired girl introducing herself.

"Lilynette Gingerbuck, the number one, right here! Yeah, Harribel's great, but Starrk's all I need! He's the best!" She pointed at the snoring teen in the corner, a thin trail of drool on his chin.

"Uh," Harry started. "No offense, but he doesn't seem the best at keeping awake. He hasn't woken up once the whole time we've been here."

Tier sighed. "Coyote Starrk is the sort of person who could sleep on a clothesline and not wake up. Trust me, he's done it."

Lilynette chuckled and grinned in a semi-psychotic manner. "Best. Prank. Ever. I had to use one hundred and twenty five pegs and do it at two o' clock in the morning. Totally worth it."

The Trio immediately and simultaneously had the thoughts that the next generation of pranksters had arrived at Hogwarts and that this girl and the Weasly Twins should never, ever be allowed to meet. Even though it was inevitable.

"Oh, and that's Tesla; Tesla Lindocruz," Mila Rose said, indicating the blonde boy sitting on the other side of the carriage. He nodded. As he reached up to brush his hair out of his face, the Trio saw his eyepatch. Ron, in particular, exclaimed his surprise loudly.

"Whoah, mate; what happened to your eye?"

Tesla shrank back against the cases, turning his head away. "I...can't remember," he said quietly, voice barely above a whisper. Hermione punched Ron again.

"Ron! You're being insensitive again!"

"Ow! Hermione!"

"How is this repeated physical violence effective, exactly?" Came a new voice; smooth and flat. Startled, the Trio looked up to see another boy peering out from behind the suitcases: the other window seat, where he had been hidden from view. Hermione and Ron both did a double take at the startling resemblance to Harry. But the black hair was longer, a thick strand falling over his face, the skin was the pale of someone who had never been outdoors and the cool green eyes seemed set in a permanent deadpan stare beneath thick black eyelashes.

"Oh, hey Ulquiorra," Lilynette said, in a wary tone. "Looks like you're still alive back there."

He blinked, expression never changing. "Of course I am still alive."

Lilynette facepalmed.

"And that's Ulquiorra Cifer," Tier broke in. "No sense of humour, and creeps everyone out, but has a near photographic memory."

Hermione lifted her hand slightly and gave a small, polite wave. "Um, hello."

He stared at her for a second; "Hn." Then he retreated back behind the pile of cases.

"Now who's being offensive?" Ron snarked at Hermione.

"Nah," sighed Emilou. "He's always like that. Complete sociopath."

"Do you even know what that word means?" Stated Mila Rose flatly.

"Of course I...Why, you...'"

#################

Crookshanks had slipped after his new human as she left the metal-room-that-moved. She had allowed him free reign, so he saw fit to supervise her as she walked. He had kept his distance at first; he did not trust the human-that-smelled-of-death-blood-fish. The human-who-smelled-of-death-mist-snakeskin and the human-who-smelled-of-death-deer-anger were beneath him. However, he kept his eyes on death-mist-snakeskin, as he knew of the tales of the Grimalkin **(AN2)** from his kit days; that warned of a snake's forever-gaze and the death-pain-long-teeth in their mouths and the faster-than-Ancestor-Acinonyx-Jubatus strike that kills.

The other, he kept coming back to. The human-who-smelled-of-death-cat-fire. In fact, his instincts were telling him that he should roll over and acknowledge her as alpha-matriarch.

Feh, what nonsense. She was lowly-stupid-human; he would not submit to her. Still, caution is the watch-word of the Felidae-hunter-race, so he slipped behind the stack of boxes-for-human-clothes.

More humans were there; death-wings-desert, death-pig-fear, death-wolf-gunpowder and death-lonely-wolf.

And then he caught her scent; a Felidae-queen in one of the small-basket-cages. And her scent held that of the old Ancestor, Panthera Leo. She would truly be a worthy mate for him.

Stalking, straight-legged and head held high, he approached the bars of the cat basket.

##################

There was a sudden yowl at such an ungodly high pitch that everyone in the compartment rushed to put their hands over their ears. Crookshanks bolted out from behind the pile of suitcases, eyes wide, tail like a bottlebrush and bleeding heavily from his right ear and cheek. He dashed behind Hermione as if the hounds of Hell were on his tail and cringed, shivering, behind her shoes.

Mila Rose gave a cry of surprise and reached down behind the cases; standing back up with a large cat draped in her arms. The cat, a female, hissed spitefully at the cowering mass of ginger fur; claws unconsciously kneading Mila Rose's arm in her anger. The girl crooned softly to the cat in her arms.

"It's okay, he's gone now. You messed him up good; didn't you? That'll teach him...'"

While a white-faced Hermione hurriedly performed _Episkey_ and _Scourgifey_ on a terrified Crookshanks, Harry and Ron had gone slightly pale.

"Sweet Merlin, what just happened?" Breathed Ron.

Mila Rose glared at them. "That mangy fleabag was paying too much attention to Leah, so she showed him what she thought of him. I suggest you get that thing neutered before he goes after someone else's cat."

Harry was looking at Leah, curled contentedly as she was in her owner's arms. Big, rippling with hidden muscle beneath the chocolate brown fur. Pale ginger smudges on the nose and forehead were the only markings. A square-set lower jaw and predatory golden eyes completed the ensemble.

As if feeling his eyes upon her, the feline turned her eyes on Harry, golden gaze boring into him as her tail flicked in annoyance. Franceska sat back down with Leah on her lap, who occupied herself by staring at Tier's fish swimming round and round in it's bowl.

Finally, Hermione gathered up the courage to ask the question that started this whole encounter. "So...I was wondering...I thought Hogwarts didn't allow any pets aside from cats, toads and owls?"

Sensing what she was getting at, Tier looked at her and sighed quietly. "Yes, normally that would be so, but it was approved by Headmaster Dumbledore when explained the circumstances. We each have one, and they are linked to us; it would damage our health and potentially leave us vulnerable and at risk if we left them behind. Besides," she continued, a slight smirk on her lips. "Only we can effectively control them, because they're unique to each of us."

Harry could tell from the look on Hermione's face that she was dying to research this. Ron however, just seemed slightly jealous that the rule didn't apply to them. He decided to continue the conversation; "That's cool. Do they have to be ordinary sorts of animals, or are they more exotic?"

Emilou shook her head as she reached for a narrow, metal box next to her foot and setting it on her lap. "Nah, Cie here isn't exactly normal." She flicked the catch and swung open the front. A tiny brown muzzle, about the size of Harry's thumb appeared at the entrance, cautiously sniffing the air. And then it walked forward onto Emilou's knee; or rather, trotted.

A tiny, miniature deer, the size of his hand, stood on her knee, peering up at all the stares with curiosity. The fur was reddish brown, with bony plates on the shoulders and hindquarters that seemed entirely natural, and a delicate, curving rack of horns that bent back over the neck.

To the Trio's slight surprise, Leah the cat didn't seem at all interested in the deer; only glancing at it before returning to the silent observation of Tier's fish.

"Well," Harry started. "I'd certainly count that as exotic."

#####

Ruka, Tesla's pet, resembled a warthog, but with a blonde mane and tail, viciously sharp tusks, and the size of a medium-sized watermelon. It seemed to be the more assertive one of the two, snuffling suspiciously at the intruders while Tesla held him close.

All Ulquiorra said when Ron asked him where his pet was, was; "Mercy is nocturnal," before returning to a large book he had produced from one of the cases.

"So," Hermione asked, turning to Lilynette. "What sort of pet do you have?" Lilynette suddenly seemed very sad, at least, it seemed that way to Harry; and maybe a little bit happy as well, somehow.

"Me and Starrk are different, but we make up for it by being there for each other."

####

After various comments about Hogwarts and the House system- Ron making sure to extol all of the virtues that Slytherin were lacking, to Hermione's waning protests that not all Slytherins should be tarred with the same brush- the Trio went back to their own apartment.

Harribel signalled with her hand that they should all remain silent. After a good thirty seconds, she took out her wand and swiftly cast locking and silencing charms on their compartment; with all the skill of someone who had spent hours practicing in order to improve her skills on every level. Ever since she had learnt the tale of the woman who had held the position of Tres Espada before her, she had promised herself that she would stay ahead of the competition by a wide margin; especially when Nnoitora was around. Despite this being a new chapter in her life(afterlife?), it was still beneficial to stay ahead.

"What are our views, then?" She asked to the rest of the Arrancar.

"These stupid pendants makes the underneath of my skin itch, for one," Lilynette groaned. Harribel sighed and leant her head back on the headrest, eyes closed.

"Right there with you Lilynette, but we've been over this. The illusion they cast on the wearer hides out mask fragments and estigma **(AN3)** , making it easier for us to start positive integration with the students. Besides, it's only until the Welcome Ceremony; we'll be going around the whole year how we normally look."

"But still looking like kids," Mila Rose huffed, folding her arms.

"At least the translation rings have no side effects," Sung-Sun said, examining the silver band on her finger. Identical copies were on the hands of everyone in the compartment.

"We just have to hope they don't all run screaming when we drop the illusion," came a dry, world-weary voice from the corner. Harribel turned to look.

"Starrk," she said, a slight nod of the head in deference to his higher(unofficial) rank. "How much of that were you faking?"

The ex-Primera yawned, and wiped his chin as he sat up from his slouched position. "I woke up when the cats started fighting. How did Leah get out of her basket, anyway?"

Mila Ross's face turned serious as she walked over to the pile of luggage, bent down, and picked up said cat basket. The wire on the front...was melted. And half of the wicker on one side was gone.

"Apparently she can still breathe fire, even in her current form," she said.

"We'll need to dump the evidence," Harribel replied, sitting up straight. "The school has a lake that's off-limits to students. Put some stones in and sink it once you get the chance. You'll have to keep a close eye on her as well, until we work something out."

"Yes Ma'am."

"What are your thoughts, Ulquiorra?" Harribel continued, twisting her head to look at the incarnation of emptiness himself. Aside from being incredibly strong, Ulquiorra was a superb analyst, unclouded by emotion and assumption. At least he wasn't perverted, lewd, brash, or a complete idiot, like some other arrancar who had come and go, had been.

Ulquiorra closed his eyes for a second, sorting through data, theories and other information in his head; before he spoke.

"Soul Society's analysis of magic simply being the ability to conduct a pre-existing spiritual core inside a wand or other object seems to be correct, based on my initial observations. Each of the three carried a wand, but I would need further, practical study in order to gauge each of their power levels, as my pesquisa is limited in this gigai.

I have also noted three things.

Firstly, the rat hiding within the pocket of Ron Weasly has several abnormalities to it's soul that should be expected of a human soul rather than an animal's.

Secondly, Harry Potter's soul has been contaminated with the soul of another. Not a case of two souls sharing a body, but a piece of a Soul fastened onto another."

"Yeah," said Apacci. "Thought something didn't sit right about that rat that was in his pocket. A soul fragment...that's beyond unnatural. It's a wonder the kid isn't insane already."

"Is it harming him in any way?" Sung-Sun interjected. "Yes or no, Soul Society will want information, if they don't know already."

"The fragment appears to be in a state of dormancy," Ulquiorra continued. "It does not seem to be parasitic, as some lesser hollows are when they latch onto the soul of a host and devour it. Rather, it seems to be a marker. I liken it to the poison of a hollow bite, putting a tracker on potential prey, but without crippling or hollowfying the victim as hollow poison often does."

Silence, as the Arrancar digest this information.

"Okay," Starrk spoke up. "Aizen using the hougyouku to perform arrancarfication may have been unnatural, but he was only forcing evolution. Maybe some of us would have become natural Arrancar at some point even if he hadn't created us. But splintering a soul... Lilynette and I can do that, sure, but sticking it onto something or someone else...makes me feel kind of sick."

General mutters of consent from everyone else.

"Hang on," Tesla said suddenly as he snapped his head round to stare at Ulquiorra. "You said you sensed three things. What's the third?"

Ulquiorra stared blankly back at him. "Twenty three reiatsu signatures clustered around the rear of the train, on the outside. Extremely hollow-like. I theorise that these are the dementors enlisted by the Ministry of Magic to provide security for the school."

Silence, as the other arrancar activated and focused their limited pesquisa to the rear of the train.

"Well, they feel like hollows, but that shouldn't be a problem for us," Tesla said, a slight tremor of doubt in his voice. "Right?"

Then the rhythm of the train changed. A screeching of brakes, and the Hogwarts Express slowly ground to a halt.

"The train shouldn't be stopping yet...right?" Lilynette said quietly.

Harribel drew her wand again and undid the charms on the door. From beyond the walls of their own carriage came distant cries of surprise from the other students.

Starrk frowned as the temperature dropped abruptly and his breath began to mist out in front of him. Lilynette snuggled into his side for warmth. Usually situations like this only happened when someone had pissed off the Captain of Squad 10.

"No," he said after a moments contemplation. "I don't think it should."

 **(AN1) Their zanpakuto are addressed by 'Anglicized' name-esque versions of their ressurreción. Tiberon became Tibby, Mucielago became Mercy, etc.**

 **(AN2) A grimalkin is an old English term for an old- especially applying to female- cat. Sort of based this scene from Sapphira's POV scenes from Chris Paolini's Inheritance Cycle.**

 **(AN3) Estigma are the the coloured face markings left over from the removal of an Arrancar's mask. Like Ulquiorra's 'tear tracks'.**

 **The Trio and the other students will tend to address them by their first names, because that's normal for them. In their own company however, the Arrancar will just use the normal lines of address. (For some reason, all of the female Arrancar, apart from Loly, Menoly and Nel are only addressed on a last name basis; but all the males on a first name basis.)**

 **Also, they didn't meet Malfoy because Harribel put those charms on the compartment.**


	7. Chapter 7

**Yay! I'm not dead!**

 **And in the manner of Kubo-sensei, we cut away from the highly anticipated encounter to something completely different (love Monty Python).**

 ***Dodges pointy objects thrown by angry fans.***

 **Sheesh! I'm trying to build up tension here! Followers, Favouriters, Fellow writers! Lend*cough* give *cough* me your reviews!**

 ***Shoe thrown by friend connects with back of head.***

 **Philistines.*Pouts* If you're going to act like that, I'll just write the dementor scene as a flash-back...**

 ***Pales at the sight of all her followers picking up even pointier objects* (Minor spoilers for Nanao's zanpakuto)**

Cornelius Fudge sighed heavily as he leaned back in his chair, pulling out a large handkerchief and dabbing at his brow. Sliding open a small drawer in his desk, he took a quick swig of brandy from the silver flask within. He had just had a particularly stressful meeting with the head of one of the Finance departments. Thank goodness it was over.

"Miss Timworth!" He said loudly. His secretary opened the door to his office, a bland, bored expression on her face.

"Yes, Minister?"

"Ah, yes. When's my next meeting, or is that it? If so, then tell the office I'm going out for a late lunch. If you could hold the fort for the rest of the day?"

"Actually sir, you have another meeting in five minutes, since your last one overran. It's with a representative from the Magical government of Japan regarding some transfer students."

"Oh, right. Thank you Miss Timworth; please send them in when they get here."

"Actually sir, he's already here."

Fudge mentally cursed. He knew that turning up early was a good political trick to embarrass a superior. Evidently this man knew his way around politics.

"Uh, very well. Send him in now if you please Miss Timworth."

She closed the door behind her as she went up to the visitor sitting on one of the chairs provided in the visitors lounge.

"The Minister is ready to receive you now sir," she said, trying to keep the curiosity from her expression and failing. He was wearing what appeared to be the Japanese equivalent of normal black wizarding robes, he had a short sword stuck through his white sash, violet-tinged blonde hair and was twirling his wand between his fingers like a cheerleaders baton in a bored manner. (He had raised one Hell of a fuss when the guards tried to confiscate the blade at the entrance. Once he pulled out a diplomatic pass, they compromised with a magical scan.)

He stretched, and slipped his wand into the custom holster on the the other side of his sash, before standing up.

"Maa, arigato, Timworth-san," he said as he strode towards the door.

 _"So long since we had to play nice like this,"_ came a quiet, slightly-amused voice inside his head.

 _'Shinso. You must be getting old if you can't remember back to Rukia-chan's execution. The way we cracked that pretty little bit of resolve and left her screaming?'_

 _"Che. That was just stalling for time with a bit of fun thrown in. We weren't actually trying to achieve anything at the time. And what d'you mean_ old? _We're the same age, baka."_

Gin fought to keep his lips from curling in amusement, instead pasting that fake smirk on his face. That smirk felt more real than a normal smile anyway.

 _This_ was the man that ran Magical Britain? A small, pudgy man with no sense of fashion and an over-developed sense of importance. Then the slight disappointment was overwhelmed by a creeping sense of unholy glee.

This was going to be _fun._

######

An hour and a half later, Miss Timworth looked up as the door to the Minister's office opened. The Japanese representative, Mr Ichimaru, strode into the visitors lounge, with what appeared to be a malicious smirk on his face.

"Have a good day, Timworth-san!" He called back over his shoulder as he swept through the outer door with an impressive billow of black robes.

With a small tug of apprehension in her gut, she rose and peered into the Minister's office. "Sir, are you alright?"

Her small, rotund superior was gripping the arms of his chair with white knuckles, face blanched white rather than it's normal ruddy complexion. His eyes bulged as he jumped when she spoke. Fumbling for the handkerchief in his breast pocket, he dabbed furiously at the sweat on his forehead.

"Sir?"

"Ah, yes...Miss Timworth...yes," he mumbled, pudgy fingers scrabbling for the neat sheaf of parchment on his desk that had been left by Mr Ichimaru. "If you...ah...um...could file...yes, file...these documents...for...um...me? Please?"

Raising an eyebrow, she picked up the papers and walked out. Sitting down at her desk, she started to shuffle through the parchment sheets, skim reading them.

As she read, her brow furrowed in confusion, until she reached a certain point. Then her eyebrows slowly crept higher in her incredulity. Equally slowly, a small smirk crept onto her lips. Non-humans at Hogwarts? Delores Umbridge would throw a fit if this news reached her(hopefully she'd pop a blood vessel and drop dead). But the odious bigot in a she-kappa's clothing was up in the Yorkshire branch office of the Ministry for the next five months, dealing with legislations on werewolves. But according to this paperwork, these transfer students could not be turned away based on race, blah, blah, blah. In short, the Ministry couldn't do anything unless one of the students crossed a line.

Miss Timworth chuckled darkly. Umbridge had successfully pushed for all sorts of anti-creature-blood laws, despite only being an Undersecretary and Miss Timworth being theoretically more important than her. But these kids were protected by not one, but two Magical governments. Umbridge wouldn't be able to do a thing. Legally anyway. Oh.

Laughter suddenly cut off, she drew her wand and began making multiple copies of the bundle of sheets. Two sets would be left to Gringotts; one lodged formally with the Goblins and the other in her own private but unassuming vault. Legally, Umbridge wouldn't be able to do anything, but despite her appearance and position, the woman was known (in Ministry office canteen-talk)to...subvert various things for her own use.

Miss Timworth wouldn't allow that to happen with this. Umbridge had thrown her weight around long enough; it was time for her to be taken down a peg. And to do it with the very legal system she so vaunted would make ever so more satisfying.

##########

 _Back in the Soul Society_

"Come on Juu, your move."

"I know Shunsui, I'm thinking. Ah-hah!"

"Damn, I didn't think you'd be so cruel as to do that."

The two captains eyed the pieces on the shogi board between them; these games were a regular occurrence between the two, unless Ukitake was ill, that is.

"Captain Kyouraku!" A small woman in glasses carrying a large book under one arm stalked into the room. "Several important documents need your signature that can't wait!"

Ukitake looked askance at his friend. "I thought you said you had finished all your paperwork?" He asked wearily, quirking an eyebrow. Shunsui at least had the decency to look embarrassed and apologetic before he was hauled off by his lieutenant, via a firm grip on his ear and a flash step.

"Itai, itai, itai! Nanao-chaaann...'"

Half an hour later, Shunsui laid down his calligraphy brush with a sigh.

"Something's bothering you Nanao," he said, voice serious. "What is it that's got you so worked up?"

She looked up, and realised that she had ruined the paper where she had been in the middle of writing a report; from the ink leaking from her unmoving brush when she was lost in thought.

"I-I'm sorry sir, it's just that sending the arrancar to the World of the Living in non-human looking gigais makes no sense! I know they have a cover story, but surely they would be easier to place if we pretended that they were human?"

"Well, you see it's quite simple Nanao. It's a test and a punishment."

"Captain?"

"The end goal is to integrate them into Soul Society, but they have no experience in this sort of environment. Las Noches was a dog-eat-dog world; you were either lower-ranked or higher-ranked than someone else and promotion was through conquest. Comradeship, mutually beneficial social relationships with someone of equal rank is alien to them.

What better way to see if they're possible of forging bonds like that, than by throwing them into an environment where the only power is your ability to create and maintain relationships with others?"

"I see. That would definitely be a test. But how would it be a punishment?"

"Because school children can be quite unkind. Peer pressure is one of the most subtle and unkind forms of psychological tortures there are. Remember how you were ridiculed because you couldn't bond with an asauchi?"

Nanao nodded. Her Captain was right; it had been horrible being made inferior in the eyes of her classmates. Now she could see where this was going. By having the children appear very clearly non-human, it was setting them up for all sorts of stigma and stereotyping and possibly bullying. To warriors whose pride was nearly everything, it would be devastating.

"We made sure to enroll them in one of the most bigoted and prejudiced schools we could find in Europe," her Captain continued. "It's not the top school by any means, despite it's claims. But for the sort of environment we were looking for, it was perfect."

#####

Instead of stumbling about or yelling, the occupants of one compartment simply cast several _Lumos_ spells with their wands. One was blindingly bright.

"Lilynette, turn it down!"

"Shut up Starrk, I'm trying!"

With all lights now at an acceptable level, Harribel looked around at her compatriots. "Report!" She said quietly. "It's those hollow signatures, isn't it Ulquiorra?"

"Yes."

"Joy. What evolution are we talking here? What abilities? Exact positions in relation to us?"

Green eyes focused somewhere off in the middle distance as his pesquisa extended, relaying back information.

"Evolution unknown, signatures suggest a power configuration below the level of a pre-Gillian hollow. Ice crystals forming on the window have no residual reiatsu, so the drop in temperature is a side effect. Taking into account the reactions of the children, main ability appears to be a type of illusionary aura. All are moving in a rough systematic search, entering each compartment." He blinked, and his eyes cleared, pupils sliding over to fix on Harribel. "Possible danger to the souls of the children."

"What do we do?" Tesla's voice had a slight hitch to it. He wasn't used to these sorts of situations; under Nnoitora he just been a glorified sparring partner! He couldn't even use resurrección and they were all stuck in the bodies of children. He suddenly thought of a time before he had undergone arrancarfication. He had witnessed a horde of pre-gillian hollows descend on one of their own and tear them to pieces. Now it seemed it was the other way around.

"Breathe, Tesla," came a voice. Starrk. "Don't let it get to you, just think rationally."

Starrk watched as Tesla's rapid breathing slowed as the former fracción calmed down. Tesla had been the most insecure out of their group, so it wasn't that much of a surprise that he would be the most affected by the situation.

"What do you think we should do Starrk?" Harribel asked. He blinked in confusion. "Why're you asking me? You've been doing pretty well in command so far."

"You're the Primera, as well as the most senior arrancar."

Starrk huffed and closed his eyes in annoyance. "Fine. I guess we should do something. Engaging these things in combat would be too risky; we don't know what we're dealing with and it wouldn't be wise to reveal any of our skills until later. But making our presence known from a positive perspective may endear some of the children to us. That would be a useful state of affairs to have later on."

Harribel nodded in agreement. "Yes. perhaps one of us should go to the next compartment with Potter and his friends...'"

But before she could continue, the door slid open and a boy stumbled inside with a yelp and the scuffling sound synonymous of someone tripping over their own feet. "I'm sorry, I tripped...erm, I...don't think I know you?"

"I don't think you do, and we don't know you either," Sung-Sun said drily as she looked down at the boy. His hair was a light brown, almost blonde, and the last vestiges of puppy fat clinging to his cheekbones. From his half-kneeling position, he was right on eye level with Lady Harribel's chest _and if he didn't stop staring she wouldn't be responsible for the consequences!_

Her eye twitched, ever so slightly, and she discreetly poked the kid's knee with her foot. He jumped, twigged what he was doing, blushed profusely and started stammering apologies.

"Shut up," Starrk drawled. "Either get in or get out; don't stand in the doorway, you're letting in a draft."

"Er...you're the only people I've seen with lights...can I stay?"

"If you sit next to Tesla, don't make a nuisance of yourself and tell us your name, you can stay," Harribel broke in, pinning him with a turquoise glare.

With a gulp, he sat down next to the blonde boy with an eye patch. "Uh...my name's Neville...Neville Longbottom. It's, uh...nice to meet you. I was looking for Harry's compartment and I thought this was it, so...sorry for barging in?"

"Hm...apology accepted," Harribel said. "Do you know what's going on? We're transfer students, so we don't know much about how things work around here."

"Oh...well, the mass murderer S-sirius Black escaped from Azkaban prison recently; they say he's after Harry. My gran says that they're posting guards around the school to protect us, but I don't know if the train stopping has anything to do with it."

"Ah, the dementors," Mila Rose said, nodding. "Ichimaru told us about them, said to be cautious."

Neville let out a terrified squeak. "D-dementors! They- they eat your souls if you get too close!"

"Fascinating," Ulquiorra said as he leaned forward. "I would appreciate experiencing one from a reasonable distance in order to examine it... I would like to point out that I may be doing that sooner than anticipated." As if on cue, a slimy rattle sounded through the air and everyone turned in time to see a skeletal hand curl it's fingers around the door.

Immediately the animals went into a frenzy, dashing themselves against the walls of their containers in panic. Neville was curled up in his seat, shivering and eyes glazed; so he didn't see the water swirling in a ball around Tibby or flames flickering at the corners of Leah's mouth.

The arrancar felt a harsh buzzing sensation inside their heads which increased to a sharp pain as the dementors pulled open the door and glided inside. Starrk gritted his teeth as he focused on it's shrouded head. "We may not be the nicest of people," he ground out. "But the murderer you're looking for isn't here."

The thing tilted it's head slightly, before backing away; as if it were confused but willing to obey. Instead of continuing to go after the arrancar, it turned towards Neville, who was still insensate on his seat. Starrk's eyes widened; "Shit! Stop it, don't let it near the kid!" There was a rush of movement.

Tesla reached down and grabbed it's cloak hem. Sun-Sung, Apacci, Mila Rose and Lilynette held it it by it's middle. Harribel grabbed one arm and Starrk the other while Ulquiorra held it's neck in a grip that, although he was in a gigai, was still bone-crushing. The dementors rattled and groaned, writhing and jerking it's limbs in an attempt to get free and eat the delicious, innocent soul right in front of it.

"What now, Starrk?" Lilynette whined. "The books say that spells don't work on these things!"

Starrk let a snarl crease his usually amiable, if slightly bored expression. His head was pounding and the instinctual, beastly part of him wanted the pain _gone._ "Spells; maybe not. But if it's anything even remotely like a Hollow, a cero to the head should put it down for good!"

"As weak as our cero's currently are, Starrk, it'll still go straight through and wreck this place!" Harribel growled. "And that means awkward questions!"

"Get it over to the window then," Starrk grinned. "Open the window then shoot it through the head. There's empty countryside for miles in all directions."

It took some shuffling and a lot of squirming on the part of the dementor, but they finally got it in line with the window Starrk had opened with one hand. Starrk glanced at Ulquiorra. "You're closest to the head, you do the honours." Ulquiorra nodded; "Understood."

With one hand still around it's neck, with the other he reached up seized it by the forehead, or rough approximation of anyway. The pale skin of his hand took on a greenish hue as ambient reiatsu gathered and swirled in the palm of his hand. There was a muffled thump and a whine as the tiny cero passed through the dementors skull and into the night air. The rest of the body slumped motionless, the entire head having been obliterated from the point-blank impact.

The arrancar sighed in relief as their headaches vanished and they relinquished their holds; the dementor remains crumpling limply to the ground and condensing into a ball of condensed black mist which basically made it look like gothic cotton-candy. Ulquiorra shrunk the mess with a flick of his wand and levitating it into a small plastic Tupperware box he had transfigured from a plastic bag (they had bought food at the muggle side of the train station). "I want to take a look at it later on in greater detail, also, Ichimaru may want samples."

A strangled gasp from behind them made them turn around. Neville was staring aghast at the dementor-in-a-box Ulquiorra was holding; and doing a rather accurate impression of a goldfish at the same time.

* * *

 **So, did you like it? I do have a few announcements to make.**

 **1) I apologise for the lateness. Three month wait - I hang my head in shame. My excuses are thus; exams, aging relatives, aging relatives losing their marbles, general life schedule and plot bunnies.**

 **2) Ladies, gentlemen and others! We have a plot! Not just year to year, but, 'bigger picture' sort of plot. I had a massive epiphany over this.**

 **3) Development of headcanon. Smaller details about Bleach we never find out about had to be worked into the plot. Research into the finer details of the Potterverse was also entailed.**

 **4) Patronus forms and memories have already been decided.**

 **5) The Zanpakuto Rebellion Arc is canon. This is how it works:**

 **Ichigo trains with the Vizards and masters his inner hollow. Instead of being limited to 11seconds(a stupid and pointless time limit that is played up to be really important for about five episodes then never mentioned again), he gets his mask time up to 1 minute and 24 seconds. Grimmjow still beats him up before Shinji shows up, but he does more damage to Grimmjow than just one burn scar. Tosen cuts Grimmjow's arm like in canon but Hollow and Arrancar activity in the Living World is curbed to let Aizen adjust his plans a little bit. Zanpakuto Rebellion Arc happens. Afterwards, canon continues as normal.**

 **6) The truth about Ichigo's heritage and Zangetsu will be revealed.**

 **7) Zero Squad will be mentioned; in regards to my headcanon Mayuri back story.**

 **8) The Blood War Arc will not happen.**

 **9) For those of you who haven't noticed, Aizen is actually dead.**

 **Announcements over. You know, I'm rather disappointed that nobody pointed out that I deliberately didn't mention or introduce one of the zanpakuto. That aside, the Ministry bit at the beginning had to be there, because the Wizarding World is corrupt and racist and otherwise the arrancar would be thrown out at the end of Third Year.**

 **Now, an omake of an alternate ending to this chapter. Crack.**

* * *

Starrk: If it's like a hollow, shouldn't we be able to eat it? Hey, Ulquiorra, go ahead and eat it!

Ulquiorra: Why me?

Harribel: You have the best analytical powers here.

Lilynette: Plus you're an emo who creeps everyone out.

Apacci: That too.

(Ulquiorra eats the dementor, but human souls suddenly appear.)

Mila Rose(lunging forward): Free food!

Harribel(dragging her back): They're human souls. We eat them and the Soul Society will come down on our heads like a ton of bricks.

Apacci: What are they thinking? It'll take more than some measly bricks to stop us!

Sun-Sung: It's an expression, idiot.

Human soul 1: Um, is this the Hogwarts Express?

Human soul 2: Yeah, where did Azkaban go?

Human soul 34: Who cares? We're ghosts! I'm going to be a poltergeist and haunt old Crouch! That'll teach him to lock me up! Bwahahahaa-urk!

Lilynette (putting a cero through the ghost's head): Shut up! You're all annoying!

Starrk: Was that really necessary?

Lilynette: Hey, it was getting crowded.

Tesla: What's that red glow outside?

Ulquiorra: The Gates of Hell.

Mila Rose: Were those capital letters really needed?

Sun-Sung (looking out the window and paling): Yes. Yes they were.

Apacci: Why would the Gates of Hell be here?

Ulquiorra: They use dementors to eat the souls of criminals as an execution method. This prevented the souls from going to Hell. When I ate the dementor, the souls were released and when Lilynette killed human soul 34, it was judged unworthy so the Gates of Hell appeared.

Human souls 1-33 & 35: Wait, what? Hell exists?

Starrk: So basically it's Lilynette's fault.

Ulquiorra: Pretty much.

Lilynette: Oi!

Tesla: Is it getting windy in here, or is it just me?

Ulquiorra: If a soul tries to escape, the Gates of Hell will often employ a strong wind to suck it back in. Since human soul 34 is still stuck inside this carriage...'

Starrk: It's going to keep up this wind until the whole train is sucked in.

Tesla: Permission to assume the foetal position and have a nervous breakdown.

Harribel: Granted.

Ulquiorra: Then there's the giant sword that comes out of the Gates of Hell to impale the escaping soul.

Harribel: So a giant sword is going to impale the train any minute.

Starrk: Right. Lilynette, you're grounded. Tesla, oh wait, scratch that, girls; help me throw all these human souls out the window.

Mila Rose: Genius.

Ulquiorra: Thank you. I try.


End file.
